“Singapore’s Creative Technology Ltd. intends to maintain its business focus, even as it faces increasing competition in the MP3 player segment from industry giant Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL), a senior company official said Friday,” Dow Jones reports. “Creative will ‘stay focused’ on its business and intends to ‘fight this war we are facing now,’ Chief Executive Sim Wong Hoo said at an industry conference, adding that he is ‘optimistic’ the company will survive the ‘MP3 war.'”
“‘If you can survive … you will one day hit the jackpot,’ he said, without elaborating,” Dow Jones reports. “The company’s shares Friday closed 0.9% lower at S$11. It has fallen by about 55% so far this year… The Singapore company’s MP3 players, sold under the MuVo and Zen brands, are a distant No. 2 to Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod players. Creative is currently facing considerable pressure on prices. A spate of price cuts by Apple prompted Creative to reduce the price of its five-gigabyte Zen Micro MP3 player to S$398 from S$448 last year. Late last year, armed with a US$100-million advertising budget, Creative seemed reasonably optimistic it could duplicate Apple’s success in the digital music player market, even though few analysts at the time shared that optimism.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sim Wong Hoo is the best. In six short months, he’s gone from declaring “war” and vowing to capture 40% market share to being “optimistic” his company will “survive” his self-declared “war.” Sheesh.
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